


Once there, now gone

by nyantaro_uwu



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-13
Updated: 2020-06-13
Packaged: 2021-03-03 23:41:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24693961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyantaro_uwu/pseuds/nyantaro_uwu
Summary: You try to solve the mystery of the weird patterns. But will there ever be an answer?





	Once there, now gone

**Author's Note:**

> Heyo there! > <) This is my first time *actually* writing something, so please do be warned that there may be a LOT of mistakes scattered throughout ^ ^;;  
> Anyways, enjoy ~

Sunlight seeped through the window into your room and eagerly bathed you in its warmth. With a grunt, you slowly open your eyes and raise your right arm to your face almost reflexively.

Another pattern. This time a butterfly-shaped one.

You forgot when was the time these patterns started appearing along the length of your arm. Was it a few months ago, or further back? Or has it always been there, just that you were too busy crunching words for your essays and it went unnoticed?

Despite the horrifying and gruesome nature it was meant to be, those patterns somehow got integrated into your daily life: every morning upon opening your eyes, you’d always check that particular arm to see if there were any new additions; every night before drifting off into slumber, a peek towards the direction of said arm is a must or else it’d be impossible for you to even sleep in _peace_.

Nonetheless, the patterns that got engraved onto the surface of your arm were quite detailed – intricate, even: There were leaves traced around floral designs and depictions of mythological figures flying amongst cloud motifs. Close to the back of your hand was a pattern of a bird cage with the newest addition of the butterfly encircled between flowers and thorny vines. Everything’s so perfectly etched and arranged it seemed more like a commissioned piece instead of some weird occurrence.

But it doesn’t seem to be much of a problem either way, so you had decided to just let it stay there instead of getting it checked out. It has also proven to be quite an entertaining time-killer too: sometimes when a class became too boring or you were just feeling listless, you’d turn to look at the patterns on your arm and proceed to trace them down on a piece of paper. As time passed, more and more people starting paying attention to the situation of your arm and it has been long since anyone even looked at you normally.

You’d ignore the side-eyes shot towards your direction and shrug them off, especially that one weird gaze from your desk mate which somehow hinted more than concern behind those eyes of theirs. You had the teachers come up to you and ask if you had gotten permission for those “tattoos” inked. Each time you’d shake your head but sadly, those overly-caring teachers never believed your explanations and had rendered your attempts futile and useless. 

All those weird glances and unnerving questions from others, you'd ignore them all. The patterns that appeared on your arm didn't really seem to be doing anybody harm, so days went by and you continued tracing them whenever you got the chance to. 

But sometimes you feel your mind wonder about these intriguing patterns. _Who even has the time to draw on their arm every day without fail?_ You’d wonder. Ah, what a question worth pondering yet shall forever remain unanswered.

Or so you thought.

It had occurred to you on one fine afternoon that the motifs are starting to fade away after some time you had last discovered the newest addition - It started disappearing bit by bit, as if a healing scar: first the flowers went, then the vines, followed by the clouds and soaring figures. In about a week’s time or so, most of the patterns had already gone, leaving your skin as bare as it had used to be and looking anew.

You let out a sigh of relief. Your skin is finally back to its original condition and there’s no need to worry about it potentially being some kind of weird cancer and you are finally free from the questions that arose from your “tattoos”. But as relieved as you might be, somewhere deep down in your heart, it still aches you to acknowledge the fact that the patterns which had accompanied you throughout the past few months were then gone so readily.

While you finally mustered up enough energy and picked yourself out of bed, you were surprised to see that the pattern on the back of your right hand was still there, with its lines somehow darker than before. A smile cracked from the edges of your mouth as you realize a part of it is still here to stay after all. Well, that is, until the day it spontaneously decided it was a good idea to go out with a bang.

You felt pain where the patterns rested: a sharp, agonizing pain as if someone were grazing your skin slowly with blades overlapping a stinging sensation. You swore you felt some warm liquid trail down your fingers while you were busy by concentrating on stifling your screams of terror, with cold sweats breaking across your whole body. And abruptly, without any foreshadowing nor warning –

It stops.

It was a moment before you felt that time had resumed in that little room of yours. Your breathing was ragged and you felt beads of sweat dripping off your face. Turning to lie on your back, you shifted your focus in an attempt to calm yourself down while unorganised thoughts raced on the tracks in your mind desperately trying to comprehend what the hell had just happened a few moments ago.

The pain was intense, yes, but it somehow managed to dissipate as quickly as it came. What came after the pain was the memory of something warm - something _wet_ – flowing along the back of your hand to your fingertips. _Wait –_

As if in realization, you jolted up from wherever you were lying and hastily felt around the back of your right hand. No blood was present, heck, not even a _graze_ can be felt anywhere on the surface of your epidermis. You tried poking your hand to check if it still hurts, and to your surprise, you didn’t feel any discomfort nor faced any issues while moving your hand around.

_The patterns,_ you remembered. How could you forget about it after all that has happened?

Hand still shaking from the aftermath of the pain earlier, you held your breath and brought it slowly to the window where the moonlight shone through.

You let out a soundless gasp.

_It’s gone._

And so was the desk mate that shot you complicated glances when you arrive at class the next day.

**Author's Note:**

> \- Aaaand that is about as far into the story as I had done. It's actually based on this one short idea I posted on tumblr all those years ago and upon revisiting my old archives, I had stumbled upon it once again and decided to try expanding said idea. As I mentioned earlier, there may be a lot of mistakes in the fic so any feedback is good and appreciated ^ ^) And thanks for reading!!


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